Functioning of a subject can be assessed by analysis of the sounds coming from inside of the subject. For example, abnormal sounds made by an operating machine could be an indicator for malfunction of the components of the machine. Similar in medical and healthcare fields, auscultation of the sounds caused by movements of various organs of the body has been a common tool for diagnosis of the health conditions of a live subject.
Conventional sound analysis samples sounds at one spot at a time and requires professionals that have been specifically trained to identify abnormal sounds from regular ones and environmental noise. However, single spot detection often results in limited and sometimes misleading information. For example, as pathological breathing sound feature varies by symptoms and spots of auscultation, conventional single spot auscultation has not been a useful tool for diagnosis of asthma.
Furthermore, although the emergence of electronic sound analyzers has facilitated the sound analysis process, precise localization of the source of abnormal sounds has remained a challenge.